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Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Yesterday on my lunch break I went to Marty's to get the rest of Adam's Valentine's Day present (I made him a Beer Gift Basket..basically I bought him a dozen pints (or pint and a halfs) of different international and/or microbrewed beers). The sales man in the beer department was extremely helpful and able to point me to brews that were LIKE ones that Adam already likes (hefeweizens & brown ales)but that were slightly different.

In our household, broadening your alcoholic horizons is always a good thing.

Anyway, after I was laden down with several bottles of beer, I headed to the cashier to be rung up.

"Is this a Valentine's Day gift?" the cashier asked."Yeah actually" I said"I could tell...girls don't drink beer".

Say what? I was a little offended by this statement. I may not drink beer..but I have many, many girlfriends who do. In fact I am really the only one who doesn't.

"Oh? I know lots of girls who love beer". I told her"Yeah but I bet you don't!", she said.

Now I was really offended. Who is she to tell me I don't drink beer. She doesn't know me. Beer drinkers look like everyone else. What was her problem!?

"No, I don't...but you basically said "All girls don't drink beer".

"I just meant in general girls don't like beer. A girl would never come in here and buy beer from a microbrewery for HERSELF. I bet you have never even heard of Tusker", she said, pointing to the Kenyan brew I had picked up.

"I think you're a beerist!" I told her.

She started laughing "Beerist?"

"Yeah! You are like those people who are all elitist about wine but you are being elitist about beer!!"

"I never thought of it that way..but you're probably right!"

So there you have it. The term "snob" can no longer just be relegated to wine enthusiasts. Beerists are in our midsts. They scoff at a woman's attempt to buy obscure beers ...or worse they assume that she could not POSSIBLY be buying them for herself. They believe wine is for people who are just too caught up in their own self-importance to be able to enjoy a cold beer. And they believe women in general are all beer neophytes.

To those people I say this: Me being a woman and not being into beer is PURELY coincidental., and it is archaic of you to think otherwise. Also: me knowing not a whole lot about microbrewed beer does not mean that I am incapable of picking out a decent brew.. this is what salespeople are for (and the same holds true for buying ANYTHING that you are not an expert about)

boston.com posted a list of "50 flavorful, affordable wines" a few months ago and it is really an excellent resource for discovering new, inexpensive but critic-approved wines. i have been slowly but surely making my way through it. maybe you will find it helpful too!